THUR AUG 23 JESSE WINCHESTER

THUR AUG 23   JESSE WINCHESTER
Tickets $25.00 adv / dos
Doors 7:00pm / Showtime 8:00pm
Jesse Winchester was the music world's most prominent Vietnam War draft-evader,
though his renown came from a body of wry, closely observed songs. After growing
up in Memphis, Winchester received his draft notice in 1967 and moved to
Montreal, Canada, rather than serve in the military. In 1969, he met Robbie
Robertson of the Band, who helped launch his recording career. In the same way
that James Taylor's history of mental instability and drug abuse served as a
subtext for his early music, Winchester's exile lent real-life poignancy to
songs like "Yankee Lady," which appeared on his debut album, Jesse Winchester
(1970). He became a Canadian citizen in 1973. Despite critical acclaim, his
inability to tour in the U.S. prevented him from taking his place among the
major singer/songwriters of the early '70s, but he made a series of impressive
albums - Third Down, 110 to Go (August 1972), Learn to Love It (August 1974),
Let the Rough Side Drag (June 1976), and Nothing but a Breeze (March 1977) -
before President Jimmy Carter instituted an amnesty that finally allowed him to
play in his homeland. By that time, the singer/songwriter boom had passed,
though Winchester continued to record (A Touch on the Rainy Side [July 1978],
Talk Memphis [February 1981], Humour Me [1988]) and even scored a Top 40 hit
with "Say What" in 1981. His most prominently covered songs include "Yankee
Lady" (Brewer & Shipley), "The Brand New Tennessee Waltz" (Joan Baez, Ian
Matthews), "Biloxi" (Tom Rush, Jimmy Buffett), "Mississippi, You're on My Mind"
(Jerry Jeff Walker, Stoney Edwards [for a Top 40 country hit]), "Defying
Gravity" (Jimmy Buffett, Emmylou Harris), "Rhumba Girl" (Nicolette Larson [for a
pop chart entry]), "Well-A-Wiggy" (the Weather Girls [for an R&B chart entry]),
and "I'm Gonna Miss You, Girl" (Michael Martin Murphey [for a Top Ten country
hit]). In 1999, Winchester returned from a long recording hiatus with the new
album Gentleman of Leisure. An active live performer, Winchester released his
first live album in 24 years with 2001's Jesse Winchester Live at Mountain
Stage. Another live album, simply titled Live followed in 2005.